Consider this: School budget votes today

The stakes are higher than usual today when voters go to the polls to pass judgment on public school budgets.

If a budget is voted down, the school district gets one more chance to present it (or a revised version) to voters in June. If a budget proposal fails twice, the district will have to live with this year’s tax levy — and that could mean more devastating cuts to teachers, staff and student programming.

This is one more consequence of the state’s tax cap law, enacted last year. It limits the growth of the tax levy (the total amount of money to be raised through the property tax) to 2 percent, plus or minus some complicated exceptions. Most districts around the state are coming in at or under the allowable cap limit, meaning a simple majority is all that’s needed to pass the school budget. Districts with tax levy increases that exceed the allowable limit need approval from 60 percent of voters.

Because too few people vote on school budgets, the outcome can be swayed by just a few voters. Last year, North Syracuse’s budget went down by a mere 52 votes out of 3,460 cast.